Last Chance To Enter Of Dreams and Faith Giveaway

Tomorrow is the last day to enter my giveaway for a signed paperback copy of my latest non-fiction book, Of Dreams and Faith.

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Of Dreams and Faith Release!

Release day is here! Of Dreams and Faith, my latest non-fiction work is now available for purchase in both paperback and digital formats:

Createspace
Amazon.com
Kindle
Smashwords

Other digital versions will be added soon - such as Nook - but you can find those versions at Smashwords right now. A giveaway on Goodreads is possibly around the corner, and you can add the book to your reading list on Goodreads here.

In celebration of the release of the book, here is your chance to win a signed paperback copy:
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Release Date For Of Dreams and Faith

I am very happy (and a little nervous) to announce the release date for Of Dreams and Faith: Tuesday, April 22nd. On that day, Of Dreams and Faith will be available for purchase in both paperback and various digital formats. Amazon.com, Nook, Kindle, Smashwords, and other retailers will have Of Dreams and Faith available to buy, and I will also be running a Goodreads giveaway and possibly one on my own blog. The paperback edition of the book will be sold for $10, and the digital editions will be available for $2.99.

This book has been years and years in the making. It is a story of my own walk with God, intersecting with the incredible things he had done for my family and my dream of writing. You can keep tabs on the official page for Of Dreams and Faith to purchase your copy, and keep your eyes on this blog around release day for more information about the giveaways.

From the back cover:
Pursuing God-given dreams is a futile effort unless we are doing so in faith. Many of us neglect to go to God with our dreams because we think they are too small or too insignificant to bother Him with them. But what we forget is that some of these dreams that are burning within us were planted there by God Himself, and He’s waiting fervently for us to turn to Him and partner with Him to fulfill these dreams.

What would happen if we took our dreams, placed them in the hands of God, and placed our faith in God to turn these dreams into reality? Instead of trusting in the temporary, instead of putting our hopes in the ones who will undoubtedly disappoint, what if we turned to the One who has power over all creation?

This book is an account, a chronicle really, of my own attempt to raise my goblet of dreams to the God who moved Heaven and Earth to call me His own, to align my will with the will of the Almighty and expectantly watch to see what He can and will do with a dream, however grand or simple that dream may seem.

Of Dreams and Faith Proof Copy

I received the paperback proof copy of my non-fiction project, Of Dreams and Faith, last week. After reviewing the proof, I realized there were some things that needed to be fixed, mainly with the cover design. They have since been updated, and I just ordered a second proof copy which should be arriving at some point this week.

Some of the things I found wrong with my cover:

First off, the file became distorted for some reason and when I received the proof copy, there was a sharp white line running across the entire bottom half of the book. I think it may have been an anomaly with the file itself, or something on Createspace's end, but either way when I uploaded the revamped cover design it was gone on the digital image - I am hoping it is also gone on the physical cover when the proof shows up.

Second, I never noticed the space between the F and the A in the word 'Faith'. The font itself does that, as the word 'Faith' was created in another program and exported as an image. To fix this, I just created an 'F' and 'aith' separately and joined them together in the cover image.

Another flaw I noticed once I had the paperback in my hands was the massive distortion around the lighthouse and some of the rocks. Going back into the cover design file itself, I realized the whole image was originally saved at 72 DPI, which is unacceptable quality for a paperback cover. This was an easy enough fix, as the image simply had to be saved under 600 DPI, which brought it out clearer and crisper. Of course, the whole cover wasn't exported as 600, but 300, but the image itself of the lighthouse and the rocks was converted to 600 to clean up a lot of the distortion.

The final flaw ended up being some mispositioned text on the back cover. I already knew the text might come out being a little off because of the cut-off points, but it was an easy enough fix - I simply shifted the text to get it away from the spine.

All in all, the corrections to this cover weren't too difficult. My wife even cleaned up the lighthouse further, taking off the black square, the text above the door, and the little pole poking out of the top. The inside of the book had a few spacing issues here and there, but the chapter titles, text, margins and page numbers all came out looking just the way I wanted them to.

Here's the final cover design:

Of Dreams and Faith Cover Sneak Peek

Of Dreams and Faith will be released soon, and in anticipation of the book entering the final stages of formatting and design, I thought I'd give everyone a glimpse at the cover design.

My wife took the photograph and applied all effects, and I handled the fonts. This project has been - by far - the most challenging writing project I have ever done. Of Dreams and Faith isn't just about my pursuit of the dreams God birthed within me, it's a very candid look at certain areas of my life I would otherwise keep to myself. My hope is that this project will inspire hope and encouragement in anyone attempting to take God at His word when He compels us to chase after the impossible. 

I don't have an exact release date yet, but you can expect this book to be available for purchase both in paperback and ebook before the end of April.

Reflections on Of Dreams and Faith

In the next couple of weeks, I will be completing and ordering the proof copy of my non-fiction project, Of Dreams and Faith. This book is a chronicle of my own walk of faith, starting when I first fell in love with writing and ending with my arrival here in California. This has been a more emotional project than I thought it would be, because I've pretty much relived - through writing - this incredible journey God has had me on.

The crafting and completion of this book has served an important lesson to me - never forget what God has done for you. Until I sat down and connected the dots of my life, I wasn't fully aware of the incredible path God set out for me many years ago, and I wasn't fully appreciative of the incredible things God has done for me, my family, and my friends as I've walked out this path.

Of Dreams and Faith is a very personal look into my life - mistakes and successes - to give everyone a greater glimpse of who God is and what He can do with our dreams and passions. I like to think of my life as a blank sheet of paper that God wrote his story upon. Of Dreams and Faith is that story, and I can't wait to share it with all of you.

I will be announcing a release date soon, so stay tuned. I have the official page up on my website as well, which will include information as I release it.

Of Dreams and Faith - Cover Design Sneak Peek

I'm in the beginning stages of the cover design for Of Dreams and Faith, my upcoming non-fiction work chronicling my journey of faith as a writer. My wife has helped me with each of the cover designs for my fictional novels, although this one is a bit different to craft since this is my first non-fiction piece.

One of the two ideas that my wife and I had for the main cover design consisted of two paths diverging, to echo Robert Frost's quote, "“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” The other idea we had was the beach at sunset, to represent dreams (aspirations) and God.

The trail pictures didn't turn out exactly the way we wanted them. Well, that is to say the pictures turned out well, but they wouldn't work well with our cover ideas. The cover would turn out too busy once the book title and author name are added to the pic.

So this leaves us with the beach sunset picture. Plenty of skyline to put the book title on, and when it wraps around to the back cover, we have plenty more skyline to write out the book description. We have many versions of this particular scene to pick from - which I will be sorting through - but here's the general baseline image:

January Update

Is it really 2014 already? I feel old. I remember watching the clock strike midnight in 2000, waiting for Y2K to send our country back into the Dark Ages. I was working at Jack-in-the-Box that year as an assistant manager and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. This New Years I spent some time with my dad and watched the ball drop in Times Square, grateful for family and this awesome journey God has had me on.

Anyway, I digress. Now that the holidays are behind me and the new year is before me, it's time to start sinking my teeth into my list of 2014 writing projects. Those of you who have been following my email newsletter and/or blog know that I have quite a lineup of awesome stuff coming down the line this year: VRKA, The LZR Project, Of Dreams and Faith, and Flash Fiction Fridays (which will resume next Friday, January 17th). I am also finishing a story for The Untold Podcast, something fans of my Black Earth and Expired Reality series will enjoy.

Aside from those specific projects, I am also going to be giving some serious attention to this blog. I have some personal experiences I have been wanting to write about and some great posts I want to put out in regards to my writing process as well, so in the next couple of weeks my blog will be off and running with more content than you can fit into Mary Poppin's bag.

The Holidays Are Here...

This Friday I will be posting another Flash Fiction Friday piece, and then my blog will be quiet until after the holidays. I'm heading back to Arizona for a bit to spend time with friends and family, and during that time I have a story to finish up for The Untold Podcast and some preparations to make for the writing projects I will be tackling in 2014 - one of which is my non-fiction piece, Of Dreams and Faith, which I will be getting back from my editor in the next week.

Here's a brief glance at some of the things I'll be putting out in 2014:
Of Dreams and Faith
The LZR Project
Expired Reality 3
VRKA

I'll catch you all in the New Year!

Of Dreams and Faith and Camp NaNoWriMo!

In recent posts, I've been making vague mentions at a non-fiction project I've started. I'm happy to announce that I have an official title for my project: Of Dreams and Faith. As some of you know, I have another blog that I run by the same name. Both the blog and the book detail the journey of faith that God has taken me (and my family) on in my lifetime, but the book will go into greater detail and offer more of an autobiographical look at things, while the blog continues to chronicle our move to the Bay Area and the church plant - Canvas - that we are a part of.

I am hoping to finish this project in the next couple of months, and then move full speed into my Expired Reality series. Which brings me to my next newsworthy topic...

I've decided to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo. I have been doing the basic, November-based NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the last eight years, and I just found out about Camp NaNoWriMo, which is basically a July version of NaNoWriMo, only you can set the word-count goal yourself instead of having to abide by the 50,000 words. I will be setting my goal at 50,000 to start off with though, and then if I get to the middle of the month and have surpassed that, I will reevaluate my word-count goal.

The novel I'll be working on for Camp NaNoWriMo is my third Expired Reality novel, Dark Horizons. I had already done a draft of this novel for one of my November NaNoWriMo contests, but this manuscript needs a complete overall from beginning to end, now that I decided to incorporate my Black Earth writing style into the series.

If there are any of you wanting to keep up on my word-count progress or participate in Camp NaNoWriMo yourself (it starts July 1st), here is a link to my profile there - DavidCorbin.

Of Dreams and Faith - The Book

I am proud to announce that I am currently working on a brand new non-fiction project which will go into detail about the incredible journey God has had me on in regards to my writing career and promises He's made my wife and I. The book will detail a little about my past, how I came to love writing and make it my permanent career, and the incredible chain of events God set up to get us into the Bay Area.The book will be less an autobiography and more a chapter-by-chapter peek into the ways God's hand has moved in my life and the life of my family.

I did struggle for a while picking out a title for this project, but in the end I think the answer was staring me in the face the whole time with the existence of this blog: Of Dreams and Faith.  I plan to release Of Dreams and Faith (the book) before the end of this year.

The Stage Is Set...

Years ago, in the murky fog of my adolescent years, dreams took root within me. Dreams of a massive writing career that would span the globe with success and influence. I remember watching the success of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series unfold with each novel she put out, and I couldn't help but wonder - if content like the Harry Potter series could impact a generation so heavily, why couldn't work with Christian themes do the same or more? (For the sake of time, we'll disregard the arguments regarding Christian themes apparently found throughout the Harry Potter series.) My question - my desire to see success fall on the side of God - was innocent enough, although probably partly motivated by jealousy for J.K. Rowling, and partly motivated by incredible hope and belief that God could - and would - do the impossible through me and my own writing. At the heart of it, my desire was birthed within the dream that God planted within me - success and influence through my writing. Given by God for God's glory.

Years later, I find myself standing near the end of a long and brutal season. This season has been particularly harsh, with its gale force winds of discipline, its massive rain storms of teaching, and its sometimes blistering cold bouts of desolate financial and provisional status. To sum it up would be to call it a season of sacrifice and obedience.

The beginning of this season had God placing a promise within me, whispering in my ear that the dead-end job I had walked into back in 2007 would be the last 9-5 job I would work until my writing took off well enough to pay the bills. Little did I understand the context of that promise. In 2009 I was wrongfully fired from that job. But I remembered God's promise, and my wife and I walked out the next stage of our season by living off of my wife's income, which was $9/hour for 27 hours a week. Our bills came to significantly more than our income - in fact each month for two years we had a $300-$600 deficit.

But we held onto God's promise.

And for two years, God covered the deficit. One month, the church helped us out. Other months, friends and family stepped in. One month, we found money on the ground - just enough to cover the bills. Another month, money miraculously appeared in our bank account - just enough to cover the bills. One month, my wife and I heard the same message from God but interpreted it differently and came to a point where we received an eviction warning from our apartment complex - but then we realized our mistake, came together on the same page, and found where God's provision was the whole time.

We came out of that two year period with so much blessing -  in the form of stronger discernment, a healthier relationship with God and each other, and a greater understanding of God's love for us. We learned how better to manage money, how to give until it hurt, and how to focus on things more important than money - like friendships and our God-given purpose in this life.

Once we entered our third year of this season, we still hadn't seen the fulfillment of God's specific promise of my writing taking off, but we continued to hold onto His word, knowing that the promise would be fulfilled in God's timing. One of His other promises had already been fulfilled by this point with the birth of my son, Nolan. Then Michal received a raise that put us in the black, breaking barely even with our bills every month. It was a sigh of relief that escaped my lips when this occurred, but I wouldn't be satisfied until God's promise was fulfilled.

We are now at the 3 1/2 year mark since I was fired, since Michal and I stepped out in faith to call God out on His word. Months ago, we were drawn to a church plant in San Francisco called Canvas. My reluctance to move to San Francisco was only outweighed by my confusion - what would a church plant have to do with the promise God made me so very, very long ago? And why San Francisco?

But now the pieces are falling into place.

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as coincidence. And this belief has led me to some conclusions about my current walk with God -

It's no coincidence I decided to venture out into a brand new genre I call edgy Christian speculative fiction to reach believers and non-believers alike. This genre - and my writing in general - is PERFECT for reaching San Francisco.

It's no coincidence that my wife and I have had a burning desire to move to California in general for the last 5+ years. I was born in Mountain View, California, and have always considered California my true home. (It also helps that my grandfather lives somewhat close to the city.)

It's no coincidence that we are about to enter a season of blessing and influence while at the same time joining with a fantastic group of believers who are proud to call Canvas their home, and proud to call us family.

There have been nights I have cried, days I've laughed, and moments I've wanted to throw in the towel and give up on this writing dream. We've reached $0 in our bank account many - MANY - times, while also having moments where we've had more than enough to give to others. I can now confidently say - as Paul did - "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:12. I have learned what a relationship - a real talking, trusting, confiding relationship with God is like. I know what it is to speak to a mountain and watch God uproot it and move it to the side. I know what a mustard seed of faith looks like and how incredibly difficult it can be to look past the flesh and circumstance to see it. I have learned, in the midst of everything, that God's 90% is better than my 110%.

And now, here at the end of this season, I am worn out, exhausted, exhilarated, and elated. So many emotions, all swirling around the core of faith that has been refined within me all these years. As I close my eyes and listen, I can hear God whispering to my spirit, telling me He is moving, about to fulfill His promise. He is moving ahead of us into San Francisco, getting the Canvas church plant ready to sweep over SF with His love. He is moving behind us, tapping us on the shoulder, reminding of us how far we have come from who we used to be. He is beside us, walking us through each and every single step of faith, from the packing up of our apartment, to the giving away of half of our furniture, to the very end (literally) of our finances.

It's been said to me lately - by a number of different individuals - that our walk of faith, our testimony, our story has all been coming together to craft a monumental stage for God to move on. I couldn't agree more. We are in a perfect position - friends and family are watching with expectant breath, waiting for God to do the miraculous, while our enemies are lying in wait, anticipating that single slip up they think will bring our downfall like a house of cards swept by the wind.

The thing is, my God won't fail me. He is true to His word, and I have seen with my own eyes His mighty hands at work in my life and in the lives of those around me. As I look over my shoulder behind me, I see a very narrow path filled with obedience and sacrifice, tears and laughter, discipline and blessing. All the makings of a grand testimony, a grand story, a grand stage.

And when God finally moves on this stage, when He does come through with His promises, I won't hesitate to move to the side, to give Him room under the spotlight to do what He does best. Because even though I've walked the walked, and talked the talked, this journey - this story - hasn't been about me at all, but about Him and His faithfulness and His love. His love for me, for His creation. This is His story, and I have had the honor of being chosen to take part in it, to walk it out, to write about it.

Keep watching, good friends. You're about to see God move in a way that is unknown in our times...